Sci-Fi..... - Page 4 - Videokarma.org TV - Video

TommyC · #46 10-21-2005, 11:23 PM

I come from the "Sci-Fi should be read and not watched" camp! I have literally hundreds of Sci-Fi paperbacks by pretty much all the greats. Asimovs original Foundation Trilogy is IMHO the best work of Science Fiction Ever! That being said, there were some great Sci-Fi movies made. Blade Runner, Silent Running, 2001: A Space Odyssey, to name a few. I have never really found any of the TV Sci-Fi to be very interesting though. Babylon 5 was ok if you watched it from beginning to end, but that was about it for me.

mayorbill11 · #47 01-01-2006, 04:58 PM

I'm not a huge sci-fi fan, but here goes.

Favourite Sci-Fi TV:
ST: DS9, TNG
Farscape
Stargate SG-1, Atlantis
Futurama (even though it's a cartoon and a comedy, it's still sci-fi)

Fav Sci-Fi Movies:
Blade Runner
The Fifth Element
Donnie Darko (although it is barely sci-fi)
Stargate
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Other Sci-Fi shows I like/tolerate but don't really watch:
ST:TOS, Voyager, Enterprise
The X-Files
The Outer Limits (new)

I don't really watch that much TV anymore. The only thing anywhere close to Sci-Fi on TV these days that I watch at all (and not regularly) is Supernatural.

#48 01-11-2006, 05:39 PM

My fav Sci-fi series has to be the BBCs "Red Dwarf" Rimmer/Kryten and holy make me laugh everytime

markdi · #49 02-04-2006, 09:21 AM

I forgot there was a 6 million dollar dog

I loved the sci fi comedy/love story - the fifth element.

Cloth Ears · #50 02-05-2006, 07:52 PM

Movies:
The Day the Earth Stood Still (watched it again last night!)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
2001
Star Wars (not because of the movie, but because sci-fi movies became A-list, rather than B-list)
Bladerunner
Terminator
Brazil
Aliens
Predator
and, of course - Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

Series:
Twilight Zone
Star Trek (all except DS9)
Red Dwarf
Futurama ("The Bender Show")

WhiskeyRebel · #51 02-06-2006, 12:38 PM

Another SF enthusiast here.

For books, I read a pretty high percentage of Zelazny's work. His stuff is more plot driven and you'd think there would be more on film. The Changeling series or The Amber chronicles would be bad-as-hell as as Scifi network series. The film Damnation Alley was fun to watch as 70s kitsch but it was barely connected to the original novella.

One of my absolute favorite authors is Julian May. The Pliocene Exile series is another excellent set of books begging for film. Especially animated! Would I LOVE to see what Ralph Bakshi could do with the Tanu and Firvulag.

Stephen Brust is another author whose writing I'm about guarranteed to enjoy, be it the Taltos series, the Phoenix Guard series or any of the standalone books.

I read probably everything Frank Herbert ever wrote, and his stuff is best read because it doesn't lend itself to filming.

But hands down the writer whose work floors me is Gene Wolfe. Part of me craves to see the New Sun / Long Sun / Short Sun series well-captured in a visual medium but I fear that layers contained in the written works would be as hard to get on film as was Dune.

As far as TV goes, out of the Trek series I didn't get to see the original series til I was an adult so it just seems campy to me. The parody in Galaxy Quest is dead effin' on.

I enjoyed Star Trek TNG and Voyager the most. DS9 never captivated me. I watched Enterprise from end-to-end and enjoyed it but have mixed feelings about some of the characters and detest the theme song.

The BBC Hitchhiker's Guide series absolutely rules, both in radio and TV miniseries form. The books are also eternal favorites of mine and I've reread them many times. The movie sucked Vogon assflaps.

B5 was a really good show but since I didn't watch it sequentially in first-run, there were parts of it that didn't make sense til I saw preceding episodes rerun.

I liked Dark Angel until they introduced the retarded dog-hybrid dude. That killed it dead. But then I also liked Cleopatra 2525.

The new Battlestar Galactica is spectacular. The sense of being hunted to the edge of survival is so thoroughly captured.

Invasion is turning out well so far. More of a soap with a Scifi backdrop, but a good drama.

Red Dwarf was a riot.

The 80s reprise of Twilight Zone was not 100% consistent but it did have some memorable episodes.

For movies, I tend to like dystopian stuff like Gattaca, the 13th Floor, ExistenZ, Xchange. The movie adaptations of 1984 and the Handmaid's Tale were really good although those were more along the lines of Clockwork Orange societal commentary than SF. Post-apocalyse stuff like Cherry 2000, Soylent Green, Omega Man and Logans' Run will usually get a viewing out of me too. I once caught a little bit of a movie called Gassssss that I'd like to see the rest of just to see if the whole movie was, well, as silly and dated as the part I did see.

mg196 · #52 02-06-2006, 01:16 PM

Ah, this is easy!

Fave TV: Dr. Who, Star Trek (Original & TNG)

Fave Movies: Star Wars (Empire is the best!), Alien(s), Blade Runner, 2001, Terminator, The Thing (Kurt Russell remake), The Matrix

I think there are a lot of Sci Movies that don't get mentioned enough. Here are some of my faves that made a HUGE impression on me as a kid:

Total Recall
2010
Robocop
Escape from New York

Cloth Ears · #53 02-06-2006, 05:45 PM

I forgot books. Easy.
Iain M Banks - light years ahead of anyone current.
the first 2 of Wilhelmina Bairds' 4 books (Crashcourse & Clipjoint)
Philip K Dick
Alfred Bester
Jules Verne

CountZero · #54 02-06-2006, 06:26 PM

TV Shows

Red Dwarf
Survivors (original UK series about population decimated by plague ala "The Stand"
Hitchhikers Guide

Films
12 Monkeys
Brazil
Cypher
Planet Of The Apes - Original
Alien
2001

Books
Neuromancer ( In fact whole William Gibson Sprawl Series)
Vurt - Jeff Noon
Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson

And many more I can't think of right now

***Negotiableterms*** · #55 02-07-2006, 12:39 AM

I love almost all Sci-Fi, from Asimov (Foundation Trilogy) all the way to David Weber's space opera. I thought ST:TNG was by far the best of all the Sci-Fi TV series. I really liked Ender's Game, and most of Card's work, and most of the Star Wars series (beyond just the 6 Lucas books). I also read a lot of "swords and sorcery" stuff.

I read all day at the office: contracts, operating agreements, deeds of trust, etc. In the late evening, and on planes, all I want is something that fascinates me, and that has nothing whatever to do with the day's reality. Sci-Fi and Fantasy R Me!

mg196 · #56 02-07-2006, 06:06 AM

Sandy G · #57 02-07-2006, 06:27 AM

One of my heroes growing up ! The original guy everybody LOVED to hate ! He really stole the show-I've often wondered what he was REALLY like-how much of him was in Dr Smith...Must have been great fun playing that role...Too bad he's gone now.-Sandy G.

Reel 2 Reel · #58 02-09-2006, 11:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Negotiableterms

I love almost all Sci-Fi, I thought ST:TNG was by far the best of all the Sci-Fi TV series.

Have you ever seen the Babylon5 series?...much better IMHO!......

***Negotiableterms*** · #59 02-10-2006, 12:50 AM

I saw B5. I just thought the babes were cuter on ST:TNG.

Dynacophil · #60 02-10-2006, 04:40 AM

Hi
i read some great Names of SciFi literature (is reading that unusual today?) - but i missed one of the greatest names in this thread:

Stanislaw Lem

Solaris, The Star Diaries, Tales of Pirx the Pilot, The Futurological Congress, The Invincible, The Magellan Nebula, The Man from Mars...

he even wrote great criminal-stories with always a scifi influence...
like "The Chain of Chance"

http://www.lem.pl/english/main.htm

what are those SciFi Soaps against a good story...

Helge